Tommy Morelli, football
It wasn't supposed to end this way, with a torn ACL, a winless season and all
the accompanying pain.

Rather than graduate with his class, Tommy Morelli decided to change the
ending. He took last spring off and returned to complete his final semester
this fall and to play football again.

It wasn't an easy decision, but
in the end Morelli realized (along with Derik Liberatore and Brian Gianci, who
were also granted a fifth year for medical reasons) he wanted "to leave Colgate
on a good note."

Morelli was captain of last year's team and he was on the sideline for every
game. "It was tough to watch the guys I'd gone through so much with have such a
hard time."

The decision to return was cemented when Colgate made a coaching change.
Morelli wanted
to play for Dick Biddle and the new staff and reported to training camp this
August to begin the new ending.

The knee has healed now and despite the rough opening there
is a new spirit among the football players. "Everyone believes in Coach
Biddle," says Morelli, who has had to learn a new defense and become
comfortable in a different system.

"It's good to be back. Colgate is a great place to be and I feel as if
I really accomplished something.
I wanted to prove to myself I could come back. I'm committed to Colgate and
Coach Biddle.

"By the time you are done, you really see why Colgate is special." Happily for
all concerned, Tommy Morelli isn't quite finished yet.

Jen Hughes, soccer
Jen Hughes moves with an effortless grace; back on defense, to the goal, up,
down, across the field. She seems to float about the pitch, drawn to the
action, creating the action.

The captain of this year's women's soccer team, Hughes has had a remarkable
career in an era when the Red Raiders have been dominant. She is Colgate's
all-time assist leader and as October began she ranked fourth in career assists
and goals. She set a single-game scoring record with four goals in
a 5-4 win over Navy in September and has been an integral part of teams that
have won two Patriot League titles and two ECAC championships.

Hughes's game has steadily improved as she has matured and grown more
confident. The freshman who was reluctant to open
her mouth on the field has become a leader who shouts encouragement to her
teammates.

"It's amazing what a difference it makes if your teammates are supporting you
when you go after a 50/50 ball," says Hughes.

Team success is Hughes' primary goal, and this season aim has been drawn
directly on an NCAA bid. Colgate has just missed the field
of 24 the last two years. This year 32 teams will qualify, and the Red Raiders
are eager.

"I want to end the season on a good note," says Hughes. "I want
to be satisfied with the season individually and collectively.

"It's great to be around a group of people who want to be successful, who want
to work. It's amazing we can compete at this level. It goes along with the
Colgate personality -- hard-working, never gives up. A certain type of person
comes to Colgate, and that's reflected in our game."

Jen Hughes is leading the charge, effortlessly but full speed ahead.

Nathaniel Jackson, soccer
"I think what you get out of a sport is sometimes abstract and often
not substantial," says Nathaniel Jackson, a soccer tri-captain and four-year
starter, "but what you put into it says something about yourself, your
strengths. What I've put into it is interrelated with my faith. I see soccer as
something God has gifted me to play. I will
do as much as I can with that gift."

The blessings haven't always been apparent. Jackson was injured during his
first training camp, then battled back to eventually start. However, the
defending Patriot League champions, stocked with veteran players, lost in the
first round of the conference tournament. It was an ending that would repeat
itself two more times. "A pretty grand disappointment," says Jackson. Sophomore
year stands out. Colgate broke into
the top 25 nationally ("I was just happy to be on the field with such
a talented team," says Jackson, who was playing a new position) but then
slumped for two weeks before the acute frustration of the semifinal loss.

This young season has had its own share of frustrations, a mix
of last-second losses and overtime defeats. It has also included a hard-fought
victory over preseason favorite Navy. "I think the way we played against
Hartwick and Cornell are highlights too," says Jackson. "We worked hard and
gave ourselves opportunities to win. I'm not ashamed of those losses."

The backyard of the Jackson home in Syracuse was really the neighborhood
soccer field. One of 12 children and influenced by his British father's feel
for the game, Nathaniel grew up playing soccer. "My brother Nick (Class of '95)
was such a competitor he forced me to be as good as I could. Jackson's game is
as good as it is unselfish.

"In many ways I think God has allowed me to play for four years.
If I hadn't, I would have gotten into things I don't want to or just been
unhappy."

Nathaniel Jackson is happy playing soccer, being on the field, working as part
of a whole. "If we can achieve as much as we can with what we have," he will be
satisfied too.

Autumn McKenzie, volleyball
"My mother loved Colgate," says Autumn McKenzie, who remembers being
"terrified" as the family traveled to campus for the first time. "I was
terrified driving up here through the woods. There's hills! There's cows! You
always hate to say your parents were right but Colgate has been a good place
for me, a good balance of academics and athletics."

McKenzie is balancing quite
a load, too. She is a neuroscience major, one of Colgate's most demanding
concentrations, especially for athletes who have to reconcile the
laboratory/practice conflict. She is also a four-year starter on the volleyball
team and Colgate's all-time leader in kills, solo blocks
and block assists. Named Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 1993, McKenzie is
a two-time all-league selection and holds the season kill record with 477, a
mark she'll likely surpass this year.

Individual statistics aside, volleyball is the quintessential team sport, and
what matters most to Autumn is team success. That
is easily defined for this year's team, which has been playing with
a sense of unfinished business.

Last season Colgate won the Patriot League and became the first women's team
to host an NCAA play-in for the tournament.

The problem was that Siena, whom the Raiders had defeated in the regular
season, won the match and advanced. "This year we won't take anything for
granted," says McKenzie. "We want to get into the NCAAs."

Colgate knows the way. The team is on track and Autumn McKenzie is keeping her
world in balance. There is a way to go but the path is clear and more than talk
the talk, the team is ready to walk the walk.